Less Glamorous Side of First Impressions

My dad’s managed restaurants for my entire life, so needless to say I’ve spent a lot of time in and around them. One thing that I never understood when I was younger was why he would always pick up trash around the parking lot on his way in or out. A couple of days ago I was thinking about this again and it reminded me that thing little things matter, and

Less glamorous can = Big Impact

He knew that even if the service was excellence and the food tasted great, if guests constantly had to walk past trash on their way in it would negatively affect their experience. If you walked into a nice office or a theater, but the bathroom had paper towels all over the floor, a dirty counter, and writing on the stalls, it would change your impression of the environment.

It’s easy to get people excited about the glamorous side of first impressions – greeting guests, providing them with much-needed information, being the host/hostess or waiter/waitress at a restaurant. It’s not very often you find people competing to pick cigarette butts out of the mulch or scrape gum off the floor. When it comes to first impressions, the less glamorous roles – picking up trash, washing dishes, cleaning the bathrooms, landscaping – are as important as the high-profile ones.

I’ve given a few examples, but also know that a lot more exist. What are some examples you’ve seen of this positively or negatively?